Thursday, December 27, 2012

Grandma's Christmas Candy

Grandma's original recipe

My Grandma Rieniets was a great cook and baker. At Christmas time, we all looked forward to her Crispie Chunkie candy made with Rice Crispies, Corn Flakes, peanuts and held together with a chewy glaze. I don't know why but we could never get enough of it, but it was addictive. She wrote the recipe down and her tradition has been passed down to my generation. I made two batches and ate most of it myself! My Mom had it waiting at our family Christmas get together this week.

For Christmas I decided to make her beloved recipe into a special gift for my Mom and sisters. I took her handwritten recipe and scanned it into the computer. Then I made it into a digital file and sent it to Spoonflower, a digital fabric printer, and had it printed onto cotton fabric. The results were amazing! To see her handwriting on the fabric, enlarged to fit a 12 x20" towel, with all its character, was just what I hoped for. There wasn't a lot of border left around the recipe since Grandma wrote right to the edges, so I added a top piece of fabric. I wrapped them up and took them to Iowa for Christmas.

Her recipe printed on fabric

My Mom with her tea towel

My sister Cathy with her gift

My sister Connie holding her gift

Mom and my sisters opened their presents up at the same time and it took a second to figure out what it was. "That's Grandma's handwriting! How did you get Grandma's handwriting on fabric?" They were really excited to have this personal gift of a cherished memory of Christmas preserved.